Hey guys, so I'm in the process of creating a lvl 4 Conquest Paladin with the base stats of 14, 10, 13, 8, 12, 17.
My goal for this character is to excel at battlefield control and being the face for my not so handsome party members. I enjoy roleplaying as much as anyone else, but I also strongly believe in playing an optimal character.
After deciding on picking Vhuman as my race, I selected to bump my stats to 14, 10, 14, 8, 12, 18, and with the Sentinel feat. (I'm open to switching to Aasimar)
Here's where I'm a bit lost. When it comes to my 4th lvl ASI I'm unsure if I should go for a bump to 20 CHA, STR/CON to 16 or possibly going for Res Con? (If I go for res con I would swap my base 14 stat on STR-> CON and give a +1 to it from my racial, but that would leave me at 13 STR.)
I haven't really played a Paladin before so I'm not really sure if maxing CHA would benefit me the most, although I've heard that Conquest paladins are more reliant on higher CHA than other paladin sub classes .
Conquest's aura needs the foes to be frightened to really kick in, and you have a channel divinity option to do so. Which is really the only thing you'd need Cha for. As a paladin you're namely a tank, with heavy armor and either a great sword or sword and board to smite your foes left and right. With only a 14 in strength however you're missing out. You have three spell slots (and not many spells that need savong throws) and a channel divinity option at level 4, all of which are once per short rest. Which means you're investing heavily in an ability you'll rarely use.
While your other abilities do. 15 is the requirement for strength to wear plate, the best basic armor in the game. You also hit stuff a lot. Melee is your friend, your go to, and how you smite. That should be your focus with Cha second. As you get higher in level and get more powerful spells start investing in Cha. But you should get strength to at least 18 as soon as possible for your bread and butter smites.
I have to echo what KageAcuma says, a bit. Having only 14 strength, you're going to start with only a +4 to hit, which may become frustrating as str-based paladins are mostly in melee combat, mostly due to the low number of spell slots. I would use your ASI to bump strength to at least a 16, and I'd even consider switching your STR and CHA scores.
CHA is an important stat later on (your level 6 aura, for example) but for your first 7 levels, a +3 CHA will be more than enough. My paladin had +4STR and +3CHA at level 4 and it felt like a good balance to me. My spells and channel divinity didn't always work, but I was able to consistently hit things, which felt good. Fallen aasimar may also be a good choice, especially if you're worried about stats. You get +2 to CHA and +1 to STR. You could easily spec 18, 10, 13, 8, 12, 16 with those boosts and then use your ASI to boost CHA to 18 or get resilient.
But, assuming you'd rather stick to variant human, let's talk feats. Resilient Con is a great feat, but you could stand to wait until level 8 (or even 12) when enemies actually get good boosts to their saving throws. What other feats are you interested in? Those with stat boosts might make this a best-of-both-worlds situation.
Hello, i just wanted to play the opposite side of the CHA/STR debate then the last two posters. i think out of all the Paladin subs Conquest is the least offensive and most battlefield control oriented. When Aura of conquest comes online at LV7 i think having Charisma as the main is important. With high Charisma you serve as both a way to lock out enemies through fear and spells, but also as protection with aura of protection. A +4 or +5 to all saving throws is huge.
I know you said Aasimar or Vhuman but could i suggest Dragonborn? If i had to build with that you have it would look something like this.
13, 10, 14, 8, 12, 17 Dragon born pumps that up to 15, 10, 14, 8, 12, 18. Then with your 4th LV ASi take the Dragon Fear feat. you are able to bump your Str to 16. This will let you have a better Con modifier and still have the 18 CHA and 16 Str. Most importantly it give you an additional way to cause mass Fear which is what you want to maximize.
Anyway that's my two cents have fun Dousing the flames of hope.
I personally find that, if you want to focus on the control aspects, I'd focus on Charisma over Strength. Not only through fear effects from the subclass, but Compel Duel, Command, Hold Person are also good spells to rely on. You want Strength to hit, but Charisma is what gives all your magics their oomph. You'll be less accurate with Sentinel, but its doable.
Also, if you have any control or influence over what magic items show up, you can ask nicely for a Belt of Giant Strength or Gauntlets of Ogre Power and prevent wasting ASI on Strength. +X weapons also have pretty much the same effect as raising your Strength. There are no magic items to effectively raise your Charisma, save Tomes, which are rare as heck.
Stack up your fear effects (Channel Divinity, Fear spell, etc.) and CHA score for DC and watch the DM facepalm constantly as his creatures are stuck not able to move or do anything of use during combat. Grab a polearm and stand 10' away from everyone and cast Fear, then whack them as they're unable to repeat their saves because they can see you and unable to strike back because they're too far away.
Most Paladin subclasses just complement the usual Paladin playstyle, but Conquest relies on you rolling with the way the subclass is structured - otherwise, you're just wasting the features.
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Hey guys, so I'm in the process of creating a lvl 4 Conquest Paladin with the base stats of 14, 10, 13, 8, 12, 17.
My goal for this character is to excel at battlefield control and being the face for my not so handsome party members. I enjoy roleplaying as much as anyone else, but I also strongly believe in playing an optimal character.
After deciding on picking Vhuman as my race, I selected to bump my stats to 14, 10, 14, 8, 12, 18, and with the Sentinel feat. (I'm open to switching to Aasimar)
Here's where I'm a bit lost. When it comes to my 4th lvl ASI I'm unsure if I should go for a bump to 20 CHA, STR/CON to 16 or possibly going for Res Con? (If I go for res con I would swap my base 14 stat on STR-> CON and give a +1 to it from my racial, but that would leave me at 13 STR.)
I haven't really played a Paladin before so I'm not really sure if maxing CHA would benefit me the most, although I've heard that Conquest paladins are more reliant on higher CHA than other paladin sub classes .
Conquest's aura needs the foes to be frightened to really kick in, and you have a channel divinity option to do so. Which is really the only thing you'd need Cha for. As a paladin you're namely a tank, with heavy armor and either a great sword or sword and board to smite your foes left and right. With only a 14 in strength however you're missing out. You have three spell slots (and not many spells that need savong throws) and a channel divinity option at level 4, all of which are once per short rest. Which means you're investing heavily in an ability you'll rarely use.
While your other abilities do. 15 is the requirement for strength to wear plate, the best basic armor in the game. You also hit stuff a lot. Melee is your friend, your go to, and how you smite. That should be your focus with Cha second. As you get higher in level and get more powerful spells start investing in Cha. But you should get strength to at least 18 as soon as possible for your bread and butter smites.
I have to echo what KageAcuma says, a bit. Having only 14 strength, you're going to start with only a +4 to hit, which may become frustrating as str-based paladins are mostly in melee combat, mostly due to the low number of spell slots. I would use your ASI to bump strength to at least a 16, and I'd even consider switching your STR and CHA scores.
CHA is an important stat later on (your level 6 aura, for example) but for your first 7 levels, a +3 CHA will be more than enough. My paladin had +4STR and +3CHA at level 4 and it felt like a good balance to me. My spells and channel divinity didn't always work, but I was able to consistently hit things, which felt good. Fallen aasimar may also be a good choice, especially if you're worried about stats. You get +2 to CHA and +1 to STR. You could easily spec 18, 10, 13, 8, 12, 16 with those boosts and then use your ASI to boost CHA to 18 or get resilient.
But, assuming you'd rather stick to variant human, let's talk feats. Resilient Con is a great feat, but you could stand to wait until level 8 (or even 12) when enemies actually get good boosts to their saving throws. What other feats are you interested in? Those with stat boosts might make this a best-of-both-worlds situation.
Hello, i just wanted to play the opposite side of the CHA/STR debate then the last two posters. i think out of all the Paladin subs Conquest is the least offensive and most battlefield control oriented. When Aura of conquest comes online at LV7 i think having Charisma as the main is important. With high Charisma you serve as both a way to lock out enemies through fear and spells, but also as protection with aura of protection. A +4 or +5 to all saving throws is huge.
I know you said Aasimar or Vhuman but could i suggest Dragonborn? If i had to build with that you have it would look something like this.
13, 10, 14, 8, 12, 17 Dragon born pumps that up to 15, 10, 14, 8, 12, 18. Then with your 4th LV ASi take the Dragon Fear feat. you are able to bump your Str to 16. This will let you have a better Con modifier and still have the 18 CHA and 16 Str. Most importantly it give you an additional way to cause mass Fear which is what you want to maximize.
Anyway that's my two cents have fun Dousing the flames of hope.
I personally find that, if you want to focus on the control aspects, I'd focus on Charisma over Strength. Not only through fear effects from the subclass, but Compel Duel, Command, Hold Person are also good spells to rely on. You want Strength to hit, but Charisma is what gives all your magics their oomph. You'll be less accurate with Sentinel, but its doable.
Also, if you have any control or influence over what magic items show up, you can ask nicely for a Belt of Giant Strength or Gauntlets of Ogre Power and prevent wasting ASI on Strength. +X weapons also have pretty much the same effect as raising your Strength. There are no magic items to effectively raise your Charisma, save Tomes, which are rare as heck.
Stack up your fear effects (Channel Divinity, Fear spell, etc.) and CHA score for DC and watch the DM facepalm constantly as his creatures are stuck not able to move or do anything of use during combat. Grab a polearm and stand 10' away from everyone and cast Fear, then whack them as they're unable to repeat their saves because they can see you and unable to strike back because they're too far away.
Most Paladin subclasses just complement the usual Paladin playstyle, but Conquest relies on you rolling with the way the subclass is structured - otherwise, you're just wasting the features.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.